A lifeline for Texas
107-year-old battleship to receive $35 million from the state legislature for needed repairs
During the last few years of his life, former Gov. Mark White took it upon himself to rally his fellow Texans to a cause that had long been dear to his heart. He wanted us all to pay more attention to our shared Texas past, particularly to such iconic sites as the San Jacinto Monument, the Alamo and Goliad. He also worried about the Battleship Texas, owned by the people of Texas and worthy of veneration, even though the ship is not part of early Texas history.
With his trademark bonhomie, White importuned elected officials. Journalists. Business leaders. Folks he ran into at the grocery store. He emphasized that our historical monuments deserve our support. We have neglected our obligations, financial and otherwise, he insisted.
The 107-year-old Battleship Texas, berthed within site of the San Jacinto Monument, may be a sort of historic anachronism, but on this Memorial Day weekend it’s altogether appropriate to acknowledge the ship as part of our shared past — as Texans and as Americans. And, on this particular Memorial Day, we are pleased to report good news about the vessel that has been in our keeping for more than seven decades.
Just last year, former Congressman Ted Poe noted in the Chronicle that the Battleship Texas “survived extensive tours in World War I and II, but Mother Nature has proved to be a much more worthy opponent. As has the Texas government.”
Poe was right. Despite numerous repairs and restoration efforts over the years, the proud ship that participated in D-Day has been succumbing to the ravages of saltwater and pollution. For years, she’s been rusting away, and lawmakers have been unwilling to provide the resources required to save her.
Until now. As of this writing, the Legislature is within hours of appropriating $35 million to float the ship to dry-dock, replace the rusting hull and float it back to its permanent berth. The appropriation is contingent on additional legislation sponsored by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, that will allow a qualified nonprofit foundation to take charge of the ship, a national historic landmark.
The money will allow the Battleship Texas to survive, but knotty — and interesting — questions remain, beyond the critical repairs. For example, “How do you bring the whole thing to life?”
That’s the question Bruce Bramlett, executive director of the Battleship Texas Foundation, has been asking. He muses about holograms or re-enactors that would allow visitors to experience not just the old, gray ship herself, but daily life aboard ship — at duty stations or in the chow line, the barber’s chair, the medic’s office. In addition to holograms, lasers might help visitors experience the ship’s four-inch guns in action.
The trickier question involves the ship’s final berth. It’s not likely to be the Houston Ship Channel — and, in fact, shouldn’t be. Bramlett likes to tell the story of a little boy who came aboard the ship, noticed the San Jacinto Monument nearby and exclaimed, “No wonder the Texans won!” The story may be apocryphal, but it illustrates the historically misleading proximity of the two monuments.
More important, one of the world’s busiest ship channels and the adjacent industrial sites is not an appropriate place for visitors. The recent ITC fire and the even more recent barge collision and ensuing gasoline spill underscore the site’s vulnerability.
Bramlett predicts that the historic battleship will end up at Galveston or Corpus Christi. Both cities can offer locations that would attract many more visitors than the current site.
Questions about the future of the Battleship Texas remain, but fortunately the most basic question — Will the ship survive? — is no longer one of them. An old governor, we believe, would have been pleased. So should the people of Texas.